RPG Series 3.5 Revised - Galap-Dreidel

Galap-Dreidel, The Keymaster of the Ghost Tower

Once an archmage and cerebremancer of boundless power, Galap-Dreidel crafted the fabled Soul Gem to vanquish his enemies and expand his power over temporal mechanics. He extended his knowledge of planar enchantments and boundless energies by studying the limitless potentials of living souls (some would say incarnum). Scholars of ancient legend say his desire to covet the meteorite stone for himself was instrumental to his unrecorded demise. The Keymaster of the Ghost Tower thus grants binders the power to vanquish souls from their bodies, bend time and space to an astounding degree and open the limitless boundaries of the ethereal plane via psionics and magic

Vestige Level: 08
Binding DC: 32
Special Requirement: Yes

Legend: How Galap-Dreidel became a vestige is lost to the annals of antiquity. Galap-Dreidel as the proverbial “renascence man” of his era. The Keymaster, as legends tell, survived long past the length of short human years and even longer still to tutor and train many sorcerers, wizards, and psions in his obscene longevity. One academic archive houses a journal of the infamous tiefling sorcerer Acererack and within its yellowed pages it is written the demi-lich bested his former master over a dispute of power. Surviving journals and scant documented personal accounts retrieved by two expeditions that braved the perils of the Ghost Tower of Inverness confirm his hatred of corporeal undead. Could a necromancer have been systematic in his fall? Any opportunity to question his vestige by binders has called forth no new lore.

Special Requirement: If being vestiges of undeath weren’t enough, Galap-Dreidel dispises Acererack and Tenebrous for some other undisclosed reason. If the binder has made a pact with either vestige in the past 24 hours, then Galap-Dreidel refuses to answer the summons. If the binder has been “drained” of attributes, health, or acquired a negative level or more by an undead monster prior to the summons, Galap-Dreidel refuses to answer until a restoration spell or an arcane device of similar effect has been administered.

Manifestation: When called forth, a clockwise flowing soup of swirling primordial ethereal quasi-matter spills over the boundaries of the seal. Galap-Dreidel, counter-clockwise, swirls up and out of the whirlpool from the center of the seal to answer the pact. The binder sees a flowing draped vestige that appears phantasmal and wisped like a specter. His face is phased out and blurred in a state of constant flux, much like a displacer beast in motion. His facial features are difficult to focus on and always impossible to identify.

Sign: The binder’s eyes and their sockets are jet-black and appear hollow to anyone that looks at them. If one were to closely examine the binder’s open mouth, they would discover that it is jet-black and hollow, voided of teeth and tongue. The binder can see, speak, and taste normally however. The binder’s skin turns chalk white.

Influence: Galap-Dreidel considered undeath and necromancy abominations in the art that is wizardy. In any given conflict, Galap-Dreidel will order the binder and his accompanying party to attack the strongest undead first, then seconds strongest, and down the line in ranks of power.

Granted Abilities: The Keymaster’s abilities reflect his considerable mastery over living souls, time, and the ethereal plane.

The Cerebremancer’s Chrono-archive: the binder gains access to Galap-Dreidel’s knowledge of wizardry and psionics. Thus the binder gains two of the following competence bonuses or feat, or any two combination upon completion of the pact: Knowledge: Arcane +16, Knowledge: Engineering +15, Knowledge: History +14, Knowledge: the Planes +13, Knowledge: Psionics +12, Delay Spell, Quicken Spell or Craft Wondrous Item.

The Enmity of the Ethereal Soul: while bound to Galap-Dreidel, the binder is pushed slightly out of phase with the material plane. The binder thus gains limited access to the Ghost Template (Monster Manual I, pg. 116). He can use all three abilities - Draining Touch, Frightful Moan, and Horrific Gaze, every other round. He can use this ability in conjunction with his available psionic powers. Second, while bound to Galap-Dreidel, the binder gains a +08 resistance bonus to necromantic spells as if he were granted a protection from spells.

Silver in the Mind of Time: The binder has access to a formidable pool of psionic talents once bound to Galap-Dreidel. As a standard action, the binder can use Dimension Door – Psionic, Ethereal Jaunt, Light Beam, Precognition-Greater, Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions, Telekinetic Thrust, Temporal Acceleration, Touch of Health, and Time Hop. The binder is bequeathed a pool of 32 power points. If the binder already has a point pool then it adds 32 power points as a bonus.

The Touch of Impending Tomorrows and Other Yesterdays: While bound to Galap-Dreidel, the binder can bend the flow of time via touch once every five rounds. The binder can accelerate chronological decay in both organic and inorganic material or temporally “push” someone or something into a pocket of suspended time. In effect, he can disintegrate or use temporal stasis as a 16th sorcerer. The binder can stack his charisma modifier as a competence bonus against a specific target when using either of these powers. These abilities’ mechanics increase when the binder advances in level to a maximum at 20th level. These twin abilities can be used in conjunction with the feats provided above by Galap-Dreidel.

Capstone Granted Ability
You gain the following ability when you pass your binding check by ten or more.

Time’s Anchor: Any corporeal or incorporeal undead struck by the binder via touch or any weapon in his possession must make a will save vs. DC 25 or be expelled onto a triple-lapping boarder region where the ethereal, the prime material and the temporal planes intersect. Once there, the undead monster is effectively trapped for the number or rounds equaled to the binder’s level plus his charisma bonus. Magical items that modify a charisma bonus stack in terms of the length of shunt. Second, this particualr ability circumvents spell resistance. This unique ability is ghost-touched, thus primarily used against monsters and undead who carry the incorporeal type and subtypes.

© Jeffrey Williams, 2008.